The fund will back African startups that are ready to scale, otherwise called growth-stage startups.

The Norrsken22 African Tech Growth Fund was first launched in January 2022 and reached its first close at $110 million.

It counts wealthy Swedish founders, including Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström, iZettle co-founder Jacob de Geer, and Delivery Hero co-founder Niklas Östberg as limited partners; Flutterwave co-founder and CEO, Olugbenga Agboola also invested in the tech growth fund.

Approximately 59% of the funding came from a consortium of 30 unicorn founders globally.

Institutional investors in the fund include Standard Bank Group Ltd., Norfund, British International Investment, the International Finance Corporation, and the US International Development Finance Corporation.

The closure of Norrsken22’s fund comes at a time when growth-stage investments in African startups have declined.

In 2023 there have been only 26 Series A and onwards deals disclosed, compared to 69 deals in the same category in 2022, and 76 in 2021.

This is likely due to a number of factors, including the global economic slowdown and rising interest rates.

However, Norrsken22 believes that the growth-stage market in Africa is still very attractive.

The firm sees a number of opportunities in sectors such as fintech, edtech, and healthtech.

Norrsken22 plans to invest in 20 startups across Africa, with a ticket size of about $10 million to $16 million per investment.

The closure of Norrsken22’s fund is a positive development for the African tech ecosystem, as it will provide African startups with access to much-needed capital at a critical stage in their growth.